Angels 😍

We have angels around us. 

There are so many of them ......

Be thankful.

Feel blessed.💖

The Boy, the mole, the fox and the Horse-Charlie Mackesy

Life has not stopped (thankfully). 

Every day is a journey anyway. ....on the road...for all of us.

....Can be a German highway (wide and smooth with no speed limits),  or a Swiss mountain road (sharp corners and steep slopes), or the  Dutch road by the canal (simple, green and beautiful) or the daily road to the supermarket  (uneventful with 3 traffic lights) .........

...can be anything.

😊

Today's post is not about the road itself but more about the people on the road. 

Our co-travellers.

...the Angels around us. There are so many.

I cannot list them all. You know who you are.

You all have helped me to stand up again and face life with a smile.😀

I have always liked the festive winter season in The Netherlands. 

I loved the decorated shops, my jackets, the shawls, the boots, the lights, the smell of cinnamon, the warm coffee,  the leave application, the planning for the vacation, the artificial Christmas tree, the gifts.....the occasional snow....everything.

Everything about this season is about happiness...the gift of Life.

This year is different for me and it is extremely difficult to be in a happy mood, like usual.

So I did not have any interest to put up the Christmas tree (which was A-senior's job anyway).

Yesterday I went for my usual walk in the evening. When I returned, the house was dark.

I knew A-junior was at home, upstairs, gaming. 

I entered the house and while opening my jacket shouted (almost),"A, why is the house dark? you know I don't like it like this! Why didn't you switch on the lights?"

No answer. 

With a grumpy face, I opened the door to my living room.

Surprise!

The Christmas tree dazzled at the corner ..... the tree lights were bright.....the room full of some kind of warm energy....a presence I cannot define.

Footsteps on the stairs. 

A-junior came down and hugged me with a smile on his face .

" Tomake surprise dilam Ma" [I wanted to surprise you, Mom].

Tears of happiness. 

Reassurance of love. 

Moments to treasure.

Angels.😍

.....and then the doorbell rang. 

My friend was standing there with lights in her hands.

She said, "We thought we would sneak into your garden and light up the tree!!".

I stood there speechless. 

Overwhelmed with gratitude.

With that, the tree got a light, I got a blessing.

Hugs from the depth of my heart!

Angels 😍

I strongly believe I have angels around me. 

Each one of you.😍

You all have stood beside us in different ways at different times of this very difficult year with love, care, strength, faith, and hope.

A book 

A bowl of comfort food

A massage to ease my neck

A Lasagna dinner before A-junior's exams to make him smile.

A long phone call to just let me pour it out.

A walk with me 

A glass of wine

A surprise drive to see the cherry blossoms and tulips

A symbol of strength from your culture

A Zoom call.

A Whatsapp ping

A yoga lesson

A supporting hand at work

A cake

A drop of tear

A smile

A hug

A story to share 

A ......

A .....

A....

Angels 😍

We have angels around us. 

Blessed with wishes from all of you...for us to be strong, for us to live life, for us to go ahead....

Angels 😍- I am blessed to have you in my life.

The Gift of Life

Life is uncertain, strange, painful.....but still a gift.💕
I do not have enough words to express by feelings as I write this blog today.

....dedicate this to A-senior whilst feeling extremely proud of our A-Junior.

January 2021 changed our lives forever. 

But this is not a post about the grief and pain that came with the change. 

This post is about the joy and pride that I feel (and am sure A-Senior feels wherever he is) when our A-junior crossed a milestone in his life as he graduated from school.

This post is about celebrating everyday, one step at a time even though life seemed to have stopped a few months back....

This post is about our in-built resilience which takes us through the difficult moments....

This post is about those friends and family (read angels) around us who gave us the strength to stand up again....

This post is about the many joyful moments we spent together, cherishing those memories and promising to keep on creating more memories in future......

This post is about love, hope, celebrations .... and still being able to believe in ...

"The Gift of Life"

A-junior finished school .

What a relief !! what a celebration!! what a proud moment for parents, family and friends!!

As usual there were the difficult moments.😀

The mother just refused to understand how someone can learn Maths from Youtube.

A-junior failed to convince the mother why he can still continue to game online a month before exams.

The mother panicked when she saw the bulk of the Physics syllabus that he needs to study.

A-junior woke up at 11:30 am during his preparation month!

The mother freaked out looking at the clock.

A-junior ....

The mother .....

....the list is a long one. 

Fast forward. Results day.

[Here, students are informed personally over phone about their boards results...around 3:00 PM.]

The clock seemed to have stopped at 2:45.

The mother looked at the clock a million times in between her meetings.  A-junior woke up late, made a nice sandwich, ate it and moved around in the room looking totally cool.....this freaked out the mother even more.

"Phone kothay?"  [where is your phone?]

"Phone e charge ache to?" [is your phone charged?]

"ora ki alphabetically call korbe? [will the school call in alphabetic order?]

The phone rang at 3:05

A-junior picked up the phone, listened and said "thank you". The mother heaved a sigh of relief.

The mentor told the mother, "Gefeliciteerd!! Congratulations! he deserves to pass because he had worked so hard amidst such difficult circumstances"

I hugged A-junior with tears in my eyes. 

Tears of pride and happiness...................................A-senior smiled and hugged us too.

I missed him the most at that moment.

Ok, now some action!!!!

This is one custom which I absolutely love in the Netherlands. I have been wanting to do this for a long time but one needed to pass school to do this.

Yes!!!! My wait was finally over. 

Usually a flagpole is used for this purpose. 

Our house does not have one so I went into the garden to look for a strong sturdy stick.  [Ma, please not with a stick]

Then some cellotape.  [Really Ma, you are going to use cellotape?]

Then the school bag.  [that will be too heavy, it cannot hang that way]

Royally ignoring all the italics, I did it! A-junior joined me sheepishly and even helped me out with the cellotape  :-)

Children hang their school bags along with the flag outside their house to announce to the world that they have passed their board exams......done with the old school bag!!!

A perfect custom to respect the hard work of the children and to look forward to the next phase of life.

As the blue "geslaagd" [Passed] flag flutter outside our bedroom window, I derive strength and inspiration from it.

I feel proud of his resilience and hope to see him develop into a fantastic loving human being.

I remember and cherish the bond that he shares with A-Senior.

I feel thankful that I have these two fantastic gentlemen in my life.....forever.💗